Agents Want a Piece of Health Reform Pie

If you haven't read this great article that appeared in Tuesday's Politico, you need to do so! As always, NAHU is working hard for our membership, and Senior Vice President of Government Affairs is quoted in this article.

Agents want piece of health reform pie - Jennifer Haberkorn - POLITICO.com

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Fails to Fix What’s Broken

Janet Trautwein, CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), issued the following statement today on the passage of the health care bill:

“The high cost of health care is the primary problem with our current health care system and unfortunately the ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’ (H.R. 3590) passed last night does little to truly rein in these costs. Health care costs are rising at an unsustainable rate, and if we don’t get these costs under control, we will no longer be able to deliver the top-notch medical care that most Americans enjoy today.

“H.R. 3590 also contains an unworkable individual mandate which will encourage people to wait until they are sick to purchase coverage, causing premiums to skyrocket significantly for everyone. Tens of billions of dollars in new insurer fees and taxes, expansion of Medicaid, tight limits on age rating and high minimum benefit levels will make private health insurance unaffordable for the hundreds of millions of Americans who are currently insured.

“Instead of alleviating the financial difficulties caused by the current economic situation, the legislation will continue to exacerbate the problem by driving up private health insurance costs significantly for millions of American families and businesses and disrupt the quality coverage on which millions of Americans rely. We have long advocated for members of Congress to work together in a bipartisan fashion to develop an affordable and responsible means of achieving the needed reforms to our nation’s health care delivery system, and unfortunately this was not the case last night when every Republican and dozens of Democrats voted against H.R. 3590.

“NAHU is committed to its continued work to promote measures that curbs costs, improve wellness, rein in frivolous lawsuits and expand consumer choice. We will continue to work with the administration and members of Congress to help minimize the potential health insurance cost increase due to the bill’s provisions so that Americans will continue to have access to the best medical care in the world at an affordable price.”

The New Joe the Plumber: NAHU's Own Ingrid Martin

Ingrid Martin, a NAHU member who is currently out of work, attended Barack Obama's speech in Strongville, Ohio on Monday--and wound up debating the President himself.

When Obama was going through the crowd and shaking hands with attendees, he noticed Ingrid didn't look pleased. When asked if she was all right, Ingrid told the President she didn't agree with his health care plan, and ended up engaged one-on-one with him for over two minutes.

Ingrid appeared on FOX Business yesterday, and on FOX and Friends this morning.

At NAHU, we believe every voice counts, and that legislators need to hear what real Americans think about proposed policy. Ingrid Martin just proved that in a big, big way.

Capitol Conference may be over, but we're still working hard!

Whew! Well, it was certainly great having over 700 NAHU members in Washington last week lobbying Capitol Hill about the importance of getting health reform right! We were all sad to see them go, but they've re-energized all of us at NAHU and we're working harder than ever to ensure that our legislators end up enacting responsible, sustainable health reform that addresses the current weaknesses of the health care system. To that end, NAHU sent the following letter to congressional leaders on Friday, urging them to oppose H.R. 3590. In the words of Scott Brown, "We can do better."

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leaders Boehner, Reid and McConnell:

On behalf of the membership of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), a professional trade association representing more than 100,000 health insurance agents, brokers and employee benefit specialists from all across America, I would like to reiterate our formal opposition to H.R. 3590, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009. In addition to our numerous policy objections, NAHU has grave concerns about the tortuous legislative processes and procedures with which Congress is seeking to ignore negative public opinion on this bill.

Instead of rushing to pass a flawed measure that will simply raise the price of health coverage for millions of more Americans than for which it would lower them, NAHU urges you in the strongest of terms to reconsider this legislation. We encourage you to work together on a bipartisan basis to develop an affordable and responsible means of achieving the needed reforms to our nation’s health care delivery system. No legislation of this magnitude should rely on the support of one party.

NAHU members help individuals and employers of all sizes purchase health insurance coverage, use their coverage effectively and make sure they get the most out of the benefits they have purchased. We want all Americans to have access to the highest quality and most efficient health care delivery system possible, and we do believe that changes to our existing system and private insurance markets are necessary.

However, we continue to believe the current legislation is misguided on several levels. First and foremost, the measure does not substantially bend the cost of providing medical care, which is the true driver of private health insurance premiums. We also believe that many of the deficit-reduction provisions, such as the CLASS Act and the scheduled cuts to Medicare providers, represent questionable “double counted” savings that will actually add to our federal budget deficit significantly over time. Second, the legislation contains billions of dollars in new taxes and fees that will directly increase the cost of private health insurance premiums for consumers long before most of the market reforms in the legislation would take effect. And many of these market reform provisions are currently structured so that they will actually raise private health insurance costs for millions of Americans. For example, the individual mandate enforcement provisions in the legislation are so weak that they are certain to lead to adverse selection which will cause health insurance premiums to rise significantly.

Third, even though a government-run public plan option has been eliminated from consideration, the proposed public program expansions in the current legislation will still exacerbate the current cost-shift by providers to private payers, which already averages almost $1800 a year per privately insured family. Finally, we are extremely concerned that this legislation irresponsibly finances health reform on the backs of people who already have private coverage or buy private coverage for their employees.

NAHU agrees that our health insurance markets are not perfect. The individual market in particular is rife with access and cost problems in many states, and we believe appropriately structured federal reforms could do a great deal to help consumers purchasing private coverage. We urge you to review NAHU’s American Solution, our vision for affordable and responsible reform, for ideas that could make a significant difference in making health insurance more accessible and affordable for millions of Americans in a financially responsible way.

NAHU acknowledges the effort you have invested in health reform and the inclusion of health insurance agents and brokers in the reform process. But our membership firmly believes that it is far more important to get health reform right than it is to pass a seriously flawed measure quickly. The legislation under current consideration will do much more to harm American health care consumers than it will to help them.

Consumers are the clients of our members, and their well-being is our primary interest in health reform. Our health insurance agents, brokers and consultants want to achieve a workable solution to improving our health care system. We urge you to halt this process now and work together on legislation that will actually achieve our common goal: a world-class and affordable health care system for all Americans.

Sincerely,

Janet Trautwein
Executive Vice President and CEO
National Association of Health Underwriters

cc: The Membership of the United States House and Senate

Capitol Conference Day 3: General Session

Today's general session began with Representative Tom Price (R-GA) joining us to offer his opinions about the current health reform bills. Representative Price is also an M.D., and he is uniquely poised to offer insight into what reforms need to occur in the United States health care system. Not surprisingly, he is not a fan of the bills currently on the table, and claims that the government taking responsibility for citizens' health care decreases accessibility, choice, responsibility and innovation. He even went so far as to quip, "When's the last time you went to the DMV and had a choice?" Price told NAHU members to urge their congressional representatives to 'stop the madness,' and share their and their clients' views about the current state of health care while they are on the Hill.

Representative Charlie Melancon (D-LA), who hails from the WHO DAT nation, as he was quick to remind us, summed up the goals of health care reform rather succinctly. According to Melancon, the ultimate goals are to lower costs for those who have health coverage, and insure those who aren't covered. He believes that bipartisan reform is not only necessary, but also possible. In Melancon's view, there is bipartisan agreement on 80% of health reform, and Congress needs to focus on the 80% they agree on and not on the 20% about which they disagree. Perhaps his most important point regarded the crafting of the current health care legislation: why would you want to craft legislation about something as meaningful and important as health care reform, and write it so you garner only the barest minimum of votes? Good, sound legislation should easily receive 250 or 260 votes (in the House). If you have to beg, borrow and steal, so to speak, in order to get your votes, perhaps the legislation just isn't good enough.

The day wrapped up with speeches by Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, current president of DHE Consulting Group and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, and Kim Holland, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner. Both shared their unique insights about the current bills, and according to Dr. Holtz-Eakin, the current health care bills are a "genuine threat to long-run prosperity and freedom in the United States." Ms. Holland shared her belief that consumers will always be better protected when they can depend on the professional agent community and their state insurance commissioners to keep their best interests in mind, and judging from the applause, every NAHU member in attendance agreed!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and Capitol Conference is no different. After a lineup of fantastic speakers and two days of lobbying on Capitol Hill, it is our hope that members left Washington exhausted but fulfilled. Their voices are indeed being heard, and NAHU will continue to work after they are gone to ensure responsible health care reform is indeed enacted.

Capitol Conference Day 2: General Session

Well, the day certainly kicked off with a bang, as our first speaker was newly-elected Senator Scott Brown (R-MA). Everyone was incredibly excited to hear him speak, as the mere announcement of his arrival resulted in a standing ovation! He had some great messages to pass along to our members, saying he was elected because people are tired of politics as usual, tired of the lack of transparency and tired of backroom deals. Brown said he was sent here as a message that people expect us to do better, to stop the gridlock that so often occurs when opposing parties try (or don't try) to work together. He said we can do better than the current health reform bills, that the American people deserve better, and that it's not too late to do better.

Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) followed Senator Brown. Nelson discussed the difficulty of health care reform, describing it as "trying to run a 100 yard dash in a 90 yard gymnasium." However, Nelson also offered hope for the two parties working together, though he said Congress needs to stop wrangling and finger-pointing in order to find ways to work together. He said our congressional leaders need to stop worrying about who gets the credit or who gets blamed, and rather focus on who ends up reaping the benefit of the work that is done: the American people.

Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) was the perhaps the most well-received speaker of the day. When the members weren't rolling in the aisles from his claim that he and Scott Brown are physical twins, he was offering tips on how best to have our voices heard by Congress. Pence acknowledged this critical time in the nation and industry, and said that when NAHU members speak to their congressmen and women, they need to speak from their hearts--not their talking points. He said D.C. is 32 square miles surrounded by reality, and NAHU members need to be ambassadors from reality. When speaking with congressional representatives, it's important to share stories of clients who will be affected by the decisions that are going to be made in Congress. When a person is elected to Congress, they are elected to represent what is in their constituents' best interests. NAHU members will be representatives when they go to the Hill, but Pence believes they will be representatives not of an industry, but rather of a way of life. If they can hold this in their hearts and show their congressmen and women just how true that is, there is no way they cannot succeed.

Perhaps Pence's final words best summed up the true mission of our Capitol Conference: "Go armed with experience and sincerity, and do freedom's work."

Capitol Conference Day 1: Opening General Session

NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein just finished giving attendees a rundown of lobbying tips. It was great to hear some reminders of thing that are common knowledge in the industry,but not so much to outsiders:

Health insurance is expensive because health care is expensive. The current health care bills don't really address cost containment, and this is a huge issue that NAHU has really been pushing. Any bill that doesn't address cost containment is destined to fail.

The system DOES need to be fixed, and no one know that better than our members. After all, they're the ones who have to deliver the news of rate increases to their clients. The current health care system is not sustainable, but we need to make sure that all reforms are responsible and genuinely address the current weaknesses. Otherwise, what's the point of even trying?

Janet also reminded our members that they play an incredibly important role, and not to become discouraged when people don't want to listen to what they have to say. It's hard sometimes because people often want to "shoot the messenger," so to speak. When our members are lobbying their congressional representatives, they need to remember how important it is to talk about what they know best: the industry and how changes will affect their clients.

The morning was a huge success and everyone in attendance seemed to really enjoy what was said. Can't wait to see what else is coming!

Here's the government relations staff getting ready to be introduced:

(L-R: Danielle Jaffee, John Greene, Adam Brackemyre, Jessica Waltman, Michael Keegan, Peter Stein).